Cold out this morning for ride to work. Traction? Gear?

[Relax]

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I was out all day yesterday from 7 am to 8 pm in just a long sleeve t-shirt and mesh jacket, but with my Warm N Safe heater jacket liner instead of the waterproof one it came with. Heated chest, back, arms, and neck. No problems at all, and I hate the cold - I was freezing when I forgot to plug in after a stop, so it made a huge difference. Was also wearing my heated gloves all day, but only had to turn on the heat in the morning. Mine are plug-in, so no charging necessary - I had battery gear before, and never again - as mentioned, they're usually out of battery when you need them, whether you used them up or forgot to charge.

 

[slowbird]

Another +1 here for heated grips. I'll never have another bike without them. When I did my trip to Colorado the combination of the Heated Grips and thick snowmobile gloves were essential at the higher altitudes.

But regarding the mention of morning commutes, I don't do those anymore. The traffic to and from work is always insanity with people not looking where they are going and driving like they are always running late.
Not worth it to ride the bike. Car gets better MPG too.

 

[mimico_polak]

These are my gloves. Love them but as others mentioned….they’re just warm gloves when the battery dies.

 

[Baggsy]

If you get heated grips, get some gloves with no vents.

 

[Wind Shear]

Raynaud's is my biggest issue. These are fantastic - similar experience as Relax, I don't think I have had to go full power on them yet:

Ultimate Touring Heated Gloves Without I-Touch-Close Out

Description Our Warm & Safe Ultimate Touring Heated Gloves are made from Grade A top grain drum dyed cowhide. The heated gloves include a thin layer of Thinsulate. Thinsulate keeps you warm when it’s cold outside. The unique microfibers or fine fibers that make up Thinsulate insulation work by...

www.warmnsafe.com

 

[Soulcatcher668]

Raynaud's is my biggest issue. These are fantastic - similar experience as Relax, I don't think I have had to go full power on them yet:

Ultimate Touring Heated Gloves Without I-Touch-Close Out

Description Our Warm & Safe Ultimate Touring Heated Gloves are made from Grade A top grain drum dyed cowhide. The heated gloves include a thin layer of Thinsulate. Thinsulate keeps you warm when it’s cold outside. The unique microfibers or fine fibers that make up Thinsulate insulation work by...

www.warmnsafe.com

What is the run time on these?

Nevermind.... not battery.

 

[POWERMAN]

If you plan on looking for handguards, consider checking out Puig and/or Givi.
I was able to get some guards shipped direct from Italy the same month they launched it into production back in 2018 iirc (or maybe 2019)
Not only does it help keep your gloves cleaner, but helping the cold wind away from your fingers is a plus.
I suspect that combined with heated grips or gloves should make riding in cold weather a little more bearable..

 

[MacDoc]

I used the Oxford heated grips on several bikes but controller shorted out. As mentioned, does not protect back of hands like the glove liners do.

If it's really cold this is the very best protection - muffs from Oxford but they do need a wire support if riding at speed. Okay as is for shopping runs. Easy to correct. They are waterproof too which is a huge advantage as cold and wet hands = hypothermia right quick.

I also used FirstGear heated glove liners which I liked a lot. Very thin and worked well under the FirstGear medium cold weather gloves...I felt the FG winter gloves too bulky.
I don't think anything like handguards solves much..and BarkBusters are expensive and are must haves for off pavement - not so much for street bikes tho will save your levers on a drop.

Oddly I had handlebar muffs back in the late 60s/early 70s when I was riding all year in St Catharines to Uni.....worked the charm then too.

 

[chingo]

Just got home and was happy to see all the responses. Going to GP Bikes who happen to be having a sale this week to check out the products.
This morning when it did get light out during my commute, i noticed the fields up here (Blackstock area) were white with frost but the roads were good. Still got till it snows to ride, but this year wanted a little more warmth. Any day i get to ride is a good day, so i try to ride everyday that i can safely. Cheers for the info!

 

[PrivatePilot]

Not sure how effective they'll be but I just ordered these: IZTOSS Motorcycle Electric Heating Handlebar Warmer, Scooter USB Heated S9J7 | eBay

Anybody tried them or anything similar?

I used a set of these for a few years when I had aftermarket Kuryakyn grips that I really liked but didn't have any option to heat.
The worked actually surprisingly well....IF you have a high-power USB port to power them - 2A minimum. If you're going to plug them into a 500w USB port they won't do squat.

Overall I was pleased with them. I had to use a piece of velcro to extend the size to fit over the grips, but once on they didn't slide or feel weird or dangerous at all. You had to keep your hands wrapped around them pretty constantly to get the heat to really feel good, but if you don't constantly take your hands off them every 30-60 seconds the heat was very noticable.

Anyhow, when I bought the new bike a few years back and no longer had the aftermarket grips, I installed Oxfords. Hands down the best thing ever for your hands in cold weather riding.

I've never understood heated grips. It's the back of your hands and fingers that get cold, which is what my heated gloves warm up. So well, I can never run them at full heat.

If you heat one side of your fingers, the other side naturally heats up as well. With my grips on 50-75% my entire hand, both sides, are toasty.

Anyhow, on another note, the best piece of kit I have ever bought for cold weather riding was my FiredUp heated vest that was on a group buy here a few years back. It's incredible how much keeping your core warm helps keep your extremities warm as well - the difference in things like my toes and legs is incredible really. And there's nothing quite like turning it on and feeling that full torso heat hit under your riding jacket. I made a cigarette lighter cord for mine so I don't have to rely on the batteries during long rides.

 

[Lightcycle]

If you heat one side of your fingers, the other side naturally heats up as well. With my grips on 50-75% my entire hand, both sides, are toasty.

Well, depends on how cold it is and how fast you're going.

We were riding through the desert in the SW US, early morning during the wintertime - temps were about -15°C and we were going ~120 km/h.

I had both the heated grips and heated gloves cranked to the max and during that ride I thought the gloves had failed because my hands were freezing.

Anyway, I turned off the heat troller, since I thought the gloves were conked out. I couldn't believe that my hands could get any colder, but instantly, all my fingers turned into ice tentacles with only the grips on.

Turns out the gloves were working. They were just ineffective at that speed and temperature...

Anyhow, on another note, the best piece of kit I have ever bought for cold weather riding was my FiredUp heated vest that was on a group buy here a few years back. It's incredible how much keeping your core warm helps keep your extremities warm as well.

I had just gotten my heated liner and was testing it out in early fall. Temps weren't too cold, about 10°C, and I had that thing cranked. It raised my core temperature up so quickly that I got nauseous from the heat. Got dizzy, had to pull over and almost threw up in my helmet.

Turns out there's such a thing as too warm, too fast...

I don't normally wear 'lectrics until it's 0°C or lower.

 

[PrivatePilot]

We were riding through the desert in the SW US, early morning during the wintertime - temps were about -15°C and we were going ~120 km/h.

I had both the heated grips and heated gloves cranked to the max and during that ride I thought the gloves had failed because my hands were freezing

Perhaps my extra wind protection (as my last and current bike have large front fairings) helps as well.

My trip last fall to the Cabot had me in near or slightly below zero temps for a period of time at 100kph and I actually had to turn down my grips as my hands started sweating.

I actually got a blister from them earlier that same day when I rode in torrential rain for the first few hours. I had them cranked to max as my gloves were soaked and apparently I must have had a death grip on the bars for a long enough period that I ended up with a blister in the thumb webbing on my right hand. Those suckers get hot.

 

[mimico_polak]

Curious how you made the cigarette lighter cord @PrivatePilot for the FiredUp vest.

I actually have one also…but as before the issue is that I lost the charger…same as the Velocity gloves so all I have is a nice vest.

 

[Evoex]

As someone who has factory grips and hand guards...outside fingers still get cold eventually. I'd still need gloves to be happy.

 

[koorosh]

If you ride long distance with cruise control on, your hands will not be on the grips for long periods in my opinion. Battery operated heated gloves are the solution.

 

[GreyGhost]

If you ride long distance with cruise control on, your hands will not be on the grips for long periods in my opinion. Battery operated heated gloves are the solution.

When nothing exciting is happening, I use a throttle rocker and ball my hands up so the heated grip heats the back of my fingers. Not as good as heated gloves but warmer than holding the bars properly.

 

[PrivatePilot]

If you ride long distance with cruise control on, your hands will not be on the grips for long periods in my opinion. Battery operated heated gloves are the solution.

Even when I’m riding long distances with my cruise control on my hands generally are still on the bars 95% (or more) of the time aside from the occasional stretch.

If my hands are cold, that goes up to 100% or the time.

 

[LePhillou]

Heated grips
Glove liners under my gloves...

I had a heated jacket back in the day but it died eventually
Now i just have underarmour coldgear and it works wonders
Another one to look at would be uniqlo's heattech... a bit more affordable usually

 

[danp]

The thing I hate about the oxfords is the giant control unit. I prefer to have as few things cluttering my handlebars as possible. Some grips like the apollo kosos have the buttons built right into the grips, seems much smarter to me.

 

[GreyGhost]

The thing I hate about the oxfords is the giant control unit. I prefer to have as few things cluttering my handlebars as possible. Some grips like the apollo kosos have the buttons built right into the grips, seems much smarter to me.

Low/high/off works for me. I put a three way switch under the fairings somewhere easy to reach and out of sight. It's not something that needs to be within reach with your hands on the bars imo. For most rides, it is left in the same position and I don't feel the need to change it.

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